Stephen Smith (Perth, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Industry, Infrastructure and Industrial Relations) Share this | Hansard source

Normally I would start by saying we have just heard the minister give us his two bobs worth, but now we know it is his two cents worth. The Treasurer and Acting Prime Minister has left the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations to speak on the MPI after taking all the questions at question time on this issue, and there was the minister—like a rabbit in the spotlight. This morning we had a disallowance motion asking the House to knock off the regulations promulgated under the Work Choices legislation—that is Labor’s commitment; to knock off these regulations, knock off this legislation—and the minister stood up and said, ‘All is rosy for the future.’ Let us put a spotlight on the future under the government’s extreme industrial relations legislation.

What do we know about Spotlight? If you go to Spotlight’s website, you will find out:

Spotlight is Australia’s largest Fabric, Craft and Home Decorating Superstore, with the revenue exceeding $600 million ... Spotlight operates over 86 stores, occupying over 3 million square feet of retail space, and employs over 6,000 staff.

That is Spotlight. It is a major organisation. Spotlight’s internal management magazine for May 2006 has, ‘Hot Topics this Month: Work Choices’ and ‘Monthly Workplace Relations Update’. It says:

With the new Workchoices legislation well underway, Stage one for Spotlight is … all new staff will be employed on Australian Workplace Agreements (AWAs).

So we know where Spotlight is coming from. But if you have a look at Spotlight’s website, you will see that Spotlight understands all too clearly what the current law of the land is. On the Spotlight website, you can get an application and apply to become an employee of Spotlight. And what does the website quite responsibly contain, because it is part of the existing law? It contains an information statement for employees about Australian workplace agreements, which expressly makes available to prospective employees of Spotlight the Australian government’s Office of the Employment Advocate’s advice to employees on AWAs—including drawing express attention to the government’s so-called minimum standards: four weeks paid annual leave, 10 days paid personal leave, up to 52 weeks unpaid parental leave and maximum ordinary hours of work limited to 38 hours per week.

Guess what, Mr Deputy Speaker: the AWA promulgated by Spotlight is entirely consistent with the government’s minimum standards. What is the point? The point is not its being consistent with the government’s minimum standards, which has been the government’s defence, but rather that the government has been entirely sprung by the things that are knocked off from existing employee conditions. The contrast that needs to be made is the contrast between what is available under this AWA consistent with the government’s law and what is currently available to existing employees. That is why, on more than one occasion during question time, I was at pains to make the point that the AWA from Spotlight is consistent with the government’s so-called legislated minimum standards.

I have it here: Spotlight Pty Ltd Australian Workplace Agreement. When you go through it you find that, on any reading, it is entirely consistent with the government’s legislated minimum standards. What was suggested by the government to a prospective new employee? Take that AWA and your pay rate will increase from $14.28 an hour, which is the New South Wales award basis, up to $14.30 an hour—an increase of the princely sum of 2c an hour. When you look at the government’s so-called minimum standards and the Spotlight AWA, you find that clause 8 of the AWA satisfies the hours of work provision, clause 10 satisfies the annual leave provision, clause 13 satisfies the parental leave provision, clauses 11 and 12 satisfy the personal leave and carers provisions, and the $14.30 offered is greater than the minimum wage, which is $12.75 an hour. So that is fine.

But then we discover the differences between the AWA proposed to new employees and the current standards. The base rate of pay for the current standard is $14.28 an hour; the Spotlight rate of pay is $14.30. If you work under the current award, for Saturday you get a penalty rate of time and a quarter at $17.85 per hour; under the AWA it is $14.30. If you currently work on Sunday you get a penalty rate of time and a half at $21.42 per hour; under the Spotlight AWA it is $14.30 per hour. If you work on a public holiday under current conditions you get double time and a half, or $35.70 per hour; under Spotlight’s AWA you get $14.30. Currently for overtime you get time and a half for the first two hours, which is $21.42 per hour; with Spotlight there is no overtime and you get $14.30 per hour. Currently for all other hours of overtime over the first two hours you get double time at $28.56 per hour; under the Spotlight AWA it is $14.30 per hour.

Under the award and current conditions, you get a paid 10-minute rest break; under Spotlight’s AWA you get no paid rest break. Under the award, 7 am to 6 pm Monday to Wednesday, 7 am to 9 pm Thursday to Friday, 7 am to 6 pm on Saturday and 8 am to 5 pm on Sunday are ordinary hours. Under the AWA all hours worked are ordinary hours. How many Spotlight stores do we know that are closed on a Thursday night or a Saturday? Under the current conditions annual leave loading is 17.5 per cent; under the Spotlight AWA there is no leave loading.

On roster protections, under the award there are guaranteed RDOs, no more than five days work per week or six in one week and four in the next and at least 10 hours break between shifts. Under the Spotlight AWA, which satisfies the government’s minimum standards to the great satisfaction of the Acting Prime Minister and the minister, there are no rostered days off, no restriction on the number of consecutive days worked without a break and no minimum break between shifts. And there are some things here which other people might regard as minor but which are significant: the current standards contain a first aid allowance of $1.54 per day while there is no allowance under the Spotlight AWA. There is a meal allowance under the award of $10.80 per meal but no allowance under the AWA. There is a uniform allowance of $8.80 per week under the award; no allowance under the AWA. Part-time employees must work a maximum of 30 hours per week under the award but under the Spotlight AWA can be required to work over 38 hours per week.

What does that loss of conditions add up to? To the princely sum of the minister’s 2c an hour. He is caught like a rabbit in the spotlight. He cannot even give us his two bob’s worth; he just gives us his two cents worth. If you are a full-time employee as an adult and you work on a Thursday night—and how many Spotlight stores have we seen closed on Thursday night?—and on Saturday and Sunday, guess what the difference is between what a new employee under the AWA will receive and what a current employee under the award gets: it is $91.35 less a week.

As there is no public holiday loading under the AWA, guess what the difference is: if you include a value in lieu of working on a public holiday, the difference for a full-time employee whose roster includes a public holiday is $53.96 for that day. New South Wales has 10 or 11 public holidays each year, which makes 500 bucks a year. Thanks very much, Two Cents Minister.

Where was the focus of questions in question time today to the Acting Prime Minister and Treasurer? He said, firstly, ‘We don’t believe any of the assertions that you make.’ The documentation is there for all to see. He said, secondly, ‘These are terrific agreements made between employer and employee to their mutual benefit and they satisfy the government’s minimum standards.’ Yes, the Spotlight AWA satisfies the government’s minimum standards, but let us see what is cut away from the current conditions and entitlements. These reflect the questions put to the Acting Prime Minister today. Under the AWA there is no provision for any penalty rates and no provision for any overtime. The AWA expressly excludes in a one-paragraph clause any award condition or entitlement in respect of rest breaks, incentive based payments and bonuses, annual leave loading, public holidays, loadings for working overtime or shift work, and penalty rates, including for work on public holidays. So, at the stroke of a pen, all those have been sold down the river for the princely sum of 2c an hour.

Further, under the AWA, Saturday work is paid at the ordinary rate of pay, not time and a quarter as currently is the case under the award. Sunday work is paid at the ordinary rate of pay, not time and a half as under the award. There is no public holiday pay rate or loading. There are no paid rest breaks between shifts, there is no guarantee of a break between shifts, there is no cap on the number of consecutive days worked and there are no rostered days off.

Let us put a spotlight onto the future: under Howard’s extreme industrial relations legislation, endorsed today by the Acting Prime Minister and the two cents minister, all of that has been sold down the river at the stroke of a pen for the princely sum of 2c an hour. That will return to haunt all those members opposite at the next election. When we are elected we will tear up your legislation, we will tear up your regulations and we will tear up your bad hearts.

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